God promises to hear us whenever we pray, no matter our location or actions. The story of Jonah illustrates this - despite disobeying God and being swallowed by a fish, Jonah prayed and God heard him. Children are reminded they can pray to Jesus at any time and He will hear them, as the Bible says "the Lord will hear when I call to him."

1. THEME: THE PROMISES OF GOD
Lesson 5: God’s Promise to Hear Us
(Psalm 4:3, Jonah 1:1-2:10)
Key Concepts: God promises to hear us whenever we pray to Him, no matter where
we are or what we have done. He will always hear our prayers.
Good morning / good afternoon children! Do you love Jesus? Yes! Are you ready to learn
about Jesus? Yes! Wonderful!
Wow, we’ve learnt so many things that God has promised to us this month!
1. In the first week, we learnt that God keeps His promise.
2. Then we learnt that God promises to love us always, whether we have been good or
bad.
3. Next, we learnt that God promises to be with us no matter what, so we do not need
to be lonely or afraid.
4. After that, we learnt that God promises to provide for us and give us what we need.
In this final week, we will learn that God promises to hear us when we pray to Him. Does
that mean God will hear us if we pray to Him at any time of the day? Yes! Does that mean
God will hear us if we pray to Him from anywhere? Yes!
There are many times in the Bible where God has shown that He hears us when we pray to
Him, whatever the situation may be. Would you like to listen to one story?
A long time ago in the Bible, there was prophet named Jonah. As we taught last week, a
prophet is a person chosen to speak for God.
Now one day, God asked Jonah to talk to the people in a city called Nineveh. The people in
Ninevah were very, very bad. And, God was angry with them. But, God, wanted to give
them a chance to say they were sorry. But, Jonah didn't like these people that lived in
Nineveh. (Shake head no). He didn't think they should get another chance. So, Jonah said,
quot;No, I won't go to Nineveh to tell those people what God says.quot;
Jonah did not obey God. Instead of going to Nineveh, he ran away. He hopped on a boat
that was going the other way!
Soon God sent a strong wind…..woooo….woooo… The boat was tossed back and forth in the
storm. The wind blew so hard that the boat was starting to break! A violent storm shook
the ship so badly, it almost sank the ship. Everyone on board the ship was very afraid.
When the people on the ship found out that Jonah was running away from God, they
became even more afraid. Then they asked Jonah, “What should we do to calm the

2. storm?” So Jonah told them to throw him into the sea, for it is his fault that the great
storm had come upon them.
At first they didn’t want to harm Jonah and tried to row as hard as possible back to
shore. But in the end, they had no choice because the sea grew even more violent! The
waves became bigger and bigger! And so the people on the ship threw Jonah out into the
sea...whoosh…Guess what??(pause for dramatic effect) The storm stopped at once!
What do you think happened to Jonah? Well, God arranged for a great big fish to swim by
and swallow Jonah! (hand motion of swallowing a big object). And so, Jonah was inside the
fish three days and three nights. That’s a long time to be inside a fish.
Children, can you imagine what it’s like inside a fish? It must be cold, dark and wet inside.
If you were Jonah, wouldn’t you be scared? Wouldn’t you be lonely? I would. What do you
think he did? Yes, Jonah prayed to God. Jonah prayed earnestly to God because he was in
great trouble. Jonah also gave thanks to God and praised God, even though he was in
trouble.
Do you think God heard Jonah? Yes!! God heard Jonah’s prayer even when he was in the
fish’s tummy. God heard Jonah even though Jonah had been disobedient. God ordered the
fish to spit Jonah out on the beach. Puuiiii! And out came Jonah! Jonah landed on the
beach, safe and sound. Jonah was sorry for disobeying God. He now went to Nineveh to
tell the people the people to stop doing the bad things they were dong, as God has
instructed.
So children, do you see that God keeps His promise to always hear us, no matter where we
are or what we have done? And if we have been naughty, we tell Jesus we are sorry and
ask Him to forgive us. He will hear us.
Children, remember that you can always pray to Jesus anytime of the day and anywhere.
No matter if you are sad or if you are happy, pray to Jesus, He promises to hear you. 
The Bible tells us that : “..the Lord will hear when I call to him.” Psalm 4:3b. Isn’t
that wonderful promise from God? Let us repeat that: “..the Lord will hear when I call
to him.” Psalm 4:3b
Very good! Let’s now close our eyes and call to Jesus.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank you for promising to hear us always, no matter where we are or
what we have done. In Jesus' name, Amen.

3. SIBKL Todd Zone Date: 29 & 30 November,2008
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